Comedy Criticism

The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner is always a news story of sorts. This time, there was buzz about the fact that Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame would be there. They did indeed show up, but didn’t seem to figure in any news. Commentary this year focused on the comedy: President Bush showed up with a look-alike version of himself who uttered the President’s real thoughts while Bush stuck to the platitudes. The routine, which was funny, was well received

The big news story was that the featured comedian, someone named Steve Colbert, apparently bombed. He did a virulently anti-Bush routine that got few laughs. Hot Air has good footage of both routines; you can judge for yourself who was funnier.

I wasn’t surprised by this, inasmuch as I’d never heard of Steve Colbert, and it’s been a long time since I heard a political humorist who was very funny. Comedians, in general, don’t seem very funny to me nowadays. For that matter, neither does politics. If you want to take a break from current events and remind yourself what it was like when comedians had no agenda other than being funny, check out this clip from the Jack Benny show on Power Line Video.